Mother hurls child off building before jumping to death

Police have opened an inquest docket after a woman threw her five-year-old son from a six floor building before jumping to her death on Monday.

Residents of the busy Hillbrow‚ Johannesburg street were left shocked when the 41-year-old mother hurled her son to the ground before jumping to her death shortly afterwards.

Pictures of the gruesome incident were circulated on social media showing the tiny body of the little boy alongside his mother covered in silver body foil on the busy street.

Hillbrow police spokesman Mduduzi Zondo said the circumstances surrounding the incident were being investigated.

"The woman was in a separate room while her husband was in another at the flat. The husband tells us that everything was well until he went to the room his wife was in and he saw that the woman was not in the room so when he looked outside the open window he saw them laying on the ground‚" Zondo said.

It is not yet clear what made the woman do it but Zondo said police investigations were under way.